Despite the fact that all my chemistry seems to be within acceptable ranges, I am very frustrated by the fact that I've gradually lost roughly 2/3 of my coral due to *very* slow tissue necrosis.
For most of the SPS and favia-type LPS, the colors (or even just 'quality' of the tissue, even if there wasn't much color going on) gradually deteriorate, just fading away until they're finally gone... some of my acans look ok, but others have shrunk until they too have vanished... and though my chalices are hanging in there, their growth is extremely slow (if it is happening at all).
The following are my last four readings from my test kits (roughly a week apart each time, and confirmed by taking a sample to Caeser's, just to rule out the possibility of a bunk test kit):
ph 8 8 8.1 8.1
alk (dkh) 9 9 9 9.5
ca 410 400 410 400
mg 1400 1380 1360 1390
phosphate .05 .05 .05 .05
Possible explanations I've come up with or had suggested to me:
"¢ too much chemical warfare going on, in particular from a mushroom population that was starting to get out of hand. Unfortunately, removed roughly 3/4 of the mushrooms hasn't fixed the problem. I also have a some carbon in my sump to help with this.
"¢ bad lights. My bulbs (2 x 250W 20K MH plus 2 96W actinics in a standard Coralife fixture) are just 4 months old though, so unless they were defective to begin with, I don't think it is a case of "not enough light."
"¢ more phosphate present than the tests indicate (most likely explanation?!). For 4 years, I had a 5" sand bed in my tank, and I KNOW it caused my phosphates to be way too high. The sand bed is now gone (less than 1/2" left just to covered the bottom), but I've read that my rockwork could have been absorbing phosphate for all those years, and it is now releasing it back into the tank (and, to make matters worse, this kind of phosphate might not be the kind a standard test kit picks up). I do have GFO in my sump as well, and though 0.05 isn't as good as 0, it is far lower than my corals were living in for the previous four years.
"¢ bacteria. Another possibility is that the little bit of algae that is growing near the bottom of my overflows may be harboring bacteria that is harming the corals... probably not as likely as the phosphate theory, but another possibility I've come across.
Anyhow, I'd appreciate any thoughts, insights, suggestions the pros on the board might have about things for me to test, try, etc. It has been extremely frustrating to watch things die off - I had a green pocillopora that I got from Steve Ruddy as a 1.5" at one of the very first club meetings that had grown to be basketball size... and now it is nothing but a skeleton (with lots of other smaller skeletons around it in the tank :-( ).
Thanks for your help!
-Nate
For most of the SPS and favia-type LPS, the colors (or even just 'quality' of the tissue, even if there wasn't much color going on) gradually deteriorate, just fading away until they're finally gone... some of my acans look ok, but others have shrunk until they too have vanished... and though my chalices are hanging in there, their growth is extremely slow (if it is happening at all).
The following are my last four readings from my test kits (roughly a week apart each time, and confirmed by taking a sample to Caeser's, just to rule out the possibility of a bunk test kit):
ph 8 8 8.1 8.1
alk (dkh) 9 9 9 9.5
ca 410 400 410 400
mg 1400 1380 1360 1390
phosphate .05 .05 .05 .05
Possible explanations I've come up with or had suggested to me:
"¢ too much chemical warfare going on, in particular from a mushroom population that was starting to get out of hand. Unfortunately, removed roughly 3/4 of the mushrooms hasn't fixed the problem. I also have a some carbon in my sump to help with this.
"¢ bad lights. My bulbs (2 x 250W 20K MH plus 2 96W actinics in a standard Coralife fixture) are just 4 months old though, so unless they were defective to begin with, I don't think it is a case of "not enough light."
"¢ more phosphate present than the tests indicate (most likely explanation?!). For 4 years, I had a 5" sand bed in my tank, and I KNOW it caused my phosphates to be way too high. The sand bed is now gone (less than 1/2" left just to covered the bottom), but I've read that my rockwork could have been absorbing phosphate for all those years, and it is now releasing it back into the tank (and, to make matters worse, this kind of phosphate might not be the kind a standard test kit picks up). I do have GFO in my sump as well, and though 0.05 isn't as good as 0, it is far lower than my corals were living in for the previous four years.
"¢ bacteria. Another possibility is that the little bit of algae that is growing near the bottom of my overflows may be harboring bacteria that is harming the corals... probably not as likely as the phosphate theory, but another possibility I've come across.
Anyhow, I'd appreciate any thoughts, insights, suggestions the pros on the board might have about things for me to test, try, etc. It has been extremely frustrating to watch things die off - I had a green pocillopora that I got from Steve Ruddy as a 1.5" at one of the very first club meetings that had grown to be basketball size... and now it is nothing but a skeleton (with lots of other smaller skeletons around it in the tank :-( ).
Thanks for your help!
-Nate
) much further from the optimal zone... so I don't think I fine-tuning is the problem... but it could be(?).
